Whilst undertaking my daily search through the gossip columns yesterday, hunting for articles linking Messi to Chelsea I come across something totally left-field – Stefan Kießling linked to Chelsea by Metro, here http://metro.co.uk/2013/02/23/chelsea-offered-cut-price-deal-for-bayer-leverkusen-striker-stefan-kiessling-3511221/
Who is Kießling, and what would he add? Well, he’s a 29-year-old German international striker at Bayer Leverkusen, incidentally the same club as reported Chelsea target Andre Schurrle. Kießling has been in excellent form this season, netting 15 goals and providing 8 assists in the Bundesliga so far, giving him a goal every one-and-a-half games, or a direct contribution to a goal every 88 minutes, which is outstanding.
At 6ft3in he is a real aerial threat, and holds the ball up better than Torres or Ba, and maybe better than Lukaku as well. Kießling is a very clinical finisher despite not being especially quick, but there are plenty of high-quality strikers that aren’t speedsters, relying on good positioning to score; Mario Gomez and Edin Dzeko spring to mind. His physical presence would be very well suited to the Premier League
The report from Metro claims that Leverkusen would be willing to sell Kießling for the measly sum of £6m, and also that Kießling has been angling for a move to England recently. Metro allege that West Ham had a bid for Kießling rejected, but now Leverkusen are offering him to Chelsea! This certainly seems totally illogical; Kießling has been Leverkusen’s star player this season, so naturally they refused to sell him to West Ham, but have now offered him cut-price to Chelsea? I don’t think even Rafalogic is as paradoxical as that.
At the reported £6m price tag, Stefan Kießling would be a steal. Manchester United similarly purchased a clinical 29-year-old striker last summer, and it worked out very well for them. Kießling is not Robin van Persie, but would be a lot cheaper, a much less exorbitant salary and would guarantee goals. If Fernando Torres can be offloaded this summer, Kießling would be a good replacement.
There’s still the question of why on earth would Leverkusen be compelled to sell the man who has carried them to third in the Bundesliga, one point behind champions Dortmund and probable Champions League qualification. Well, Leverkusen do have Andre Schurrle, who craves the central striker’s role much like Sturridge and Walcott do. At 22 years old, Schurrle is seen as Leverkusen’s future.
Alternatively this could be some sort of package deal to take Schurrle and Kießling to Stamford Bridge (unlikely) or maybe Leverkusen want De Bruyne, and are offering Kießling as a sweetener (plausible).
While this sort of deal may seem to go against Chelsea’s recent transfer policy, I wouldn’t be complaining at all if Kießling was to wear royal blue next season. It seems a little unlikely, but if he can hit two-in-three with a supply line of Schurrle, Sam and Castro, imagine what he could do with Mazacar behind him. Or a Lukaku- Kießling partnership – that could be special.
why not we brought up our youth talent!? i really hope islam feruz will play with us
Kiessling is very overrated, if you watch him play he is very slow and lazy
not the type of striker we should have
Kießling might be slow but he’s certainly not lazy, at least from what I’ve seen of him. Lukaku might have a better work-rate but there is nothing wrong with Kießling’s work ethic. The only real drawbacks of Kießling are age and possibly pace, but if you’re good enough, you’re young enough, and his lack of pace hasn’t stopped him having an excellent strike rate.
What of facao? We need strong and fast playin pattern